Evidence of meeting #46 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Claudette Deschênes  Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Amipal Manchanda  Assistant Deputy Minister, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Neil Yeates  Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

4:55 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

Yes, we do work with HRSDC in and around labour force projections when we—

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

So just on the labour force projections, are you aware that there are many experts who feel that demand-side analysis is inadequate?

4:55 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

Yes, there are a lot of limitations to what we have available in Canada in terms of labour market information. A lot of the data we have and HRSDC has is national in character. It's not very good at a regional or a provincial level. Some provinces have done their own analysis.

5 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

So are you—

5 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

Thank you. I'm sorry, the time has expired, Ms. Crowder. I almost called you “Chowder”. I apologize.

5 p.m.

NDP

Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC

It's okay. The elders call me “Chowder” as well.

5 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Tilson

Mr. Lamoureux.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Yeates, I wonder if you could indicate, in terms of the provincial nominee program, how many certificates and how many individuals would have come to Canada last year under that program.

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

We'll get the exact number. It's pretty close to 38,000.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

That's 38,000 applicants, or certificates?

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

No, individuals, with dependants, yes.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Individuals. Yes, if you can.... I see the numbers are going to be there, right.

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

Yes, it's 38,415.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

And how many certificates?

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

It would have been very close to 20,600.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

For this year, is it an increase?

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

The level's planned target for this year is a range, 42,000 to 45,000.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Are you able to meet the demands of the different provinces?

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

Provinces would all like more provincial nominee spaces.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

So we're not able to meet the demand from the provinces?

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

No? How is it determined which province gets how many?

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

Well that, has proven to be a fairly controversial question. What happened is that as the provincial nominee program started out back in 2005 there was actually fairly limited initial take-up, so levels within our levels plan weren't really an issue when it started out, and we started out literally with just a few hundred. That has grown dramatically, to the point that we're now a very large economic immigration program--as I've said, 42,000 to 45,000 this year.

So we had to basically set levels with each province, and that meant that the provinces that started up early, such as Manitoba, got actually, relatively speaking, quite high numbers for provincial nominees. Others that started much later—as an example, Ontario—ended up with much lower provincial nominee numbers.

5 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Given that Manitoba started much earlier and has been successful in this program, and that Ontario's starting to move forward on it, is the department prepared to assure Manitoba that they'll be able to maintain the numbers they've received over the last number of years?

5 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Neil Yeates

We're meeting with the provinces and the territories next week, and we're going to have a discussion about levels-planning for 2013 and further years.